Kittery, Eliot pleased with shared ambulance deal

Tuesday

Dec 17, 2013 at 2:00 AM

KITTERY, Maine — Six months ago, the newly formed American Ambulance Service-New England signed a contract for emergency medical services with Kittery and Eliot. Today, said town public safety officials, response time to calls, communication and training opportunities are significantly better than they had been previously.

Deborah McDermott

KITTERY, Maine — Six months ago, the newly formed American Ambulance Service-New England signed a contract for emergency medical services with Kittery and Eliot. Today, said town public safety officials, response time to calls, communication and training opportunities are significantly better than they had been previously.

"I can't say enough about the relationship between fire, police and AAS," Kittery Fire Chief Dave O'Brien said. "I'm very pleased with the way we work together. I believe we found the best possible deal for our communities."

The improved ambulance service has a great deal to do with what O'Brien called an "iron-clad" two-town contract that called for local dispatching, more training opportunities for police and fire personnel, and maintenance of equipment and the building at the former Walker Street fire station in Kittery.

"We were pretty clear what we wanted, but they were willing to give us what we wanted and even some more," O'Brien said — such as a second ambulance for Kittery and Eliot.

Neither town is subsidizing the service, either. In fiscal year 2013, Kittery paid $25,000 and Eliot $50,000 to the previous ambulance provider, American Medical Response. AMR also bid on the current contract and also said they'd provide unsubsidized service.

But AAS-New England was the unanimous choice of the committee that forged the contract, which included the two town fire chiefs and Eliot and Kittery Police Chief Theodor Short.

The reason for that vote of confidence is due to the fact that most of the AAS-New England staff once worked for AMR, and the staff knows the communities and "understands who they are," said Brendan McNiff, chief operating officer of AAS-New England.

AAS-New England formed in 2011, providing services in Massachusetts and now in New Hampshire and Maine. The company is owned by Falck USA, one of the largest private providers of emergency medical services in the country, as is AMR. Falck creates independent local subsidiaries and gives the subsidiaries decision-making power, McNiff said, adding that the business relationship appealed to him.

"This is a nimble approach," said Paul Robidas, general manager for Maine and New Hampshire. "If I need to cover ambulance hours during a busy time of year, I can add shifts. We make the decisions and let them know."

As McNiff and then Robidas came on to AAS-New England a year ago, others who once worked for AMR followed. AAS-New England now provides ambulance services for Eliot, Kittery and Berwick, Maine, as well as New Castle and Somersworth, N.H.

The second ambulance in Kittery is an example of that local control, McNiff said.

"We know the business, and we went into this with our eyes wide open," he said. "We knew this (second ambulance) was important to Kittery and Eliot, so the way it's designed, they are tied to the two towns, except when we're responding to mutual aid."

Under the terms of the contract, all ambulance calls are dispatched by Kittery police, which also dispatches for Eliot. Previously, AMR funneled all calls through its central dispatch center in Massachusetts.

O'Brien said it previously could take as long as five minutes to get to the ambulance drivers, but now the calls are instantaneous. Moreover, because the two towns have roads with the exact same names, redundancies are built in to ensure that ambulances go to the right town.

O'Brien insisted on that policy after a 74-year-old Kittery Point man died in March 2011 when an ambulance called to his aid went to Goodwin Road in Eliot instead of Kittery Point. "That still haunts me," he said.

The contract with AAS-New England is for one year, with an option for two more. O'Brien said he will be recommending the Kittery Town Council extend the agreement.

"It's been a great crew to deal with," Short said. "There's been a good, open line of communication between American Ambulance and both Kittery and Eliot. That's key in any venture like this."

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